In order to avoid US sanctions, part of Russia’s oil trade with China and India is now paid in crypto
Last Updated on 15 March 2025 by CryptoTips.eu
Russia’s economy is suffering because of the US and EU sanctions imposed on it because of the invasion of Ukraine. One way for the Russians to still make some money is to sell their oil and gas to India and China rather than to Europe and the US. Of course, the Chinese and Indian governments have both demanded lower prices from the Kremlin.
JUST IN: Russia is using Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins for oil trade with China and India to bypass sanctions. pic.twitter.com/foQGUY2H9n
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) March 14, 2025
To pay for that oil, more and more Russian companies are now using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether and Tether, Reuters reported yesterday.
Tether
The information that Reuters has made public comes from anonymous sources. All parties involved “declined to be identified due to the highly sensitive nature of the matter.” However, the facts seem to be true. The billion-dollar trade in Russian oil between giant countries Russia, India and China is increasingly being paid for in Bitcoin, Ether and Tether.
At the moment we are still talking about small amounts compared to the total share of trade, but by now more than 10 million dollars per month in Rupees and Yuan are converted into crypto and then transferred into Russian Rubles by the sellers.
Thus, a new global use case for crypto has again emerged, of course in order to bypass old fiat technology.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin continues to struggle to find its way up. At the time of writing, the largest cryptocurrency is trading at $84,000.